And that’s a wrap.
“Jeopardy” contestant James Holzhauer lost on Monday, ending his 33-day run on the game show, during which he took home a total of $2,464,216, including $2,000 for his second-place finish to new champ, University of Chicago librarian Emma Boettcher. He came up just $56,484 shy of besting the all-time record set by Ken Jennings for non-tournament play.
“Nobody likes to lose,” Holzhauer said in an interview with the New York Times published Monday. “But I’m very proud of how I did, and I really exceeded my own expectations for the show. So I don’t feel bad about it.”
”Jeopardy” airs mostly in evening timeslots, but has already run in a few cities earlier Monday including Little Rock, Arkansas, Meridian, Mississippi and Jackson, Tennessee.
Holzhauer, 34, made a splash during his winning streak on the show by taking the board by storm, going for the highest-dollar questions first and hunting for Daily Doubles. Then, he bet big. The professional sports gambler from Las Vegas explained to the Times, his huge advantage on the trivia show was that he wasn’t afraid to risk his winnings.
“The fact that I win and lose money all the time helps desensitize me, so I can write down $60,000 as the Final Jeopardy wager and not be trembling at the thought of losing that money.”
Except on Monday, when he didn’t. Holzhauer, along with his two rivals, gave the correct response (“Who is Marlowe”?) to the clue: The line “A great reckoning in a little room” in “As You Like It” is usually taken to refer to this author’s premature death. But with $23,400 going into the round, he wagered only $1,399, an unusually “modest” bet, as host Alex Trebek termed it.
Boettcher, who led going into the round, bet big and finished the victor.
The 27-year-old librarian told The New York Times that she has watched the game show for years, even using a pen as her own buzzer and keeping track of her scores. Boettcher said she calculated the percentage of how often she answered correctly.
“I knew going in that Daily Double hunting was something that I could do and feel confident doing,” she told The Times. “I don’t need to be cautious around that.”
During his nearly seven-week run on the show, Holzhauer crossed the $1 million mark on Day 15 and the $2 million mark on Day 27, becoming only the second person in the game show’s 35-year history (excluding an earlier NBC version) to reach the feat in regular-season play. He first appeared on April 4, and was absent only for a two-week Teachers Tournament that aired in mid-May.
But his final episodes were taped in early April. He also playfully teased early word of his exit on Twitter, with a reference to the “Drake Curse,” a reference to the singer as bad-luck omen: “Knew I shouldn’t have invited @Drake to the @Jeopardy taping.”
Knew I shouldn’t have invited @Drake to the @Jeopardy taping.
— James Holzhauer (@James_Holzhauer) June 3, 2019
Computer programmer-turned-author Jennings made off with $2,520,700 over 74 games in 2004, one year after the show stopped limiting champions to five-day reigns and allowed them to compete until they lost.
Holzhauer’s financial haul is even more impressive given the pace of his winnings. He holds the top 15 daily money totals, including the one-day record of $131,127 set April 17. Jennings averaged $34,064 during his 74-game run.
Read more at usatoday.com.
